A 42-year-old man on trial on charges of raping a 30-year-old woman strongly denied allegations that he threatened she would end up in a suitcase, saying to gardaí that their sexual actions were all consensual.
“She started kissing,” said the defendant. “It was mouth-to-mouth kissing… It was not just raw sex. There was affection — that is the word I was looking for.”
Garda John O’Connell asked in an interview — a recording of which was played for Mr Justice Tony Hunt and the seven men and five women of the jury yesterday — “Did you threaten her in any way?”
He replied: “No. She said I threatened her, did she?”
Garda O’Connell said: “Yeah.”
The defendant said: “Jesus Christ, no.”
Garda O’Connell said the man who witnessed the disputed sexual encounter also said it.
The defendant replied: “I don’t believe this.”
Garda O’Connell asked: “Did you say you would put her in a suitcase?”
The defendant said: “There is something else going on here. I am worried about this. You are saying [man’s name] is saying I threatened her. That is completely off the wall. There is something going on between [man’s name] and this girl.
“Jesus almighty. It was consensual. My solicitor said if there was anything ridiculous or unheard of I should ask to speak to him. I never threatened a woman in my life.”
The defendant was allowed to talk to his solicitor.
Elsewhere in the interview, he said: “Everything that happened sexually between us was consensual.
One thing that has been said about me all my life is that I have respect for women. I was raised that way. She came over towards me. That is when it started. It was completely consensual like, 100%. I don’t know why she is saying these serious allegations.
He said they gave each other oral sex and later there was intercourse, but he said he could not ejaculate as he had taken heroin that day. The accused man denies all six charges against him, namely two counts of rape, one by sexual intercourse and a second by placing his penis in her mouth on January 14, 2017.
He denies also three charges of aggravated sexual assault by threat of violence by the production of a broken wine bottle and a sixth count of production of a weapon to intimidate, namely a broken wine bottle.
Alice Fawsett, prosecuting, told the jury that the alleged victim died in May 2018 and previously gave information to the gardaí. Because she is not present to give evidence and be available for cross-examination by the defence, the jury would not be able to hear any evidence of what she said, the lawyer said.
The main evidence is from a man who was present in the room during part of the disputed incident in January 2017. He described what happened as rape and claimed that the woman was degraded by the man.
Blaise O’Carroll, defending, said the defendant’s account of what happened was that the woman gave him a “blow job” and they had sex, the witness intervened and told them to go to another room, which they did. The trial continues today at Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.